The Renaissance and the classical heritage
History 100, April 26, 2006
Reminder: no response paper this week
The sacramental system(finishing up from last time)
• Life-cycle: birth (baptism), age of reason (confirmation), marriage/ordination, death (extreme unction, “last rites”)
• Annual cycle of sin, penance, and grace (penance, Eucharist)
• Priests must perform penance, Eucharist, and extreme unction; bishops, confirmation and ordination
The Renaissance: a cultural movement
• “Rebirth” of letters and arts
• Italy, beginning in 14th century (just after Dante)
• From Italy to transalpine Europe, late 15th and 16th centuries
Key aspects
• Sense of distance from the Greek and Roman past
• Idealization of antiquity (especially Rome)
• Use of ancient models
• Rejection of medieval “barbarism” in language and art
Pantheon
• Imperial Roman temple
• 2nd century AD
Reims Cathedral
• c. 1225-1290
• Gothic architecture
Pantheon & Reims Cathedral
Bramante, Tempietto
• Inside S. Pietro in Montorio, Rome
• Authorized 1502
• Completed after 1511
Pantheon & Tempietto
Palladio, Villa Rotonda (begun 1567)
Pantheon & Villa Rotonda
Myron, Discobolus
• Roman copy in marble
• 5th-century BC original
Laocoon Group
• Marble
• Roman copy of Hellenistic original
• Rediscovered 1506
Arnolfo di Cambio, Madonna
• c. 1300
• Marble
• Designed for exterior of Florence Cathedral
Myron & Arnolfo di Cambio
Donatello, St. George
• c. 1415-17
• Marble
• Designed for exterior of Or San Michele, Florence
Myron & Donatello
Michelangelo • Dying
• Marble
• 1505-6, 1513-16
• Designed for tomb of Pope Julius II
Laocoon & Michelangelo
Classical models for literature• Latin based on ancient
models, especially Cicero
• Ideal of the orator (Quintilian): general education in the humanities:1. Grammar2. Rhetoric3. Poetry4.History5. Ethics (moral
philosophy)